Table 2.

Description of study and intervention characteristics including collaboration between pharmacist and GP of included studies

Study	Country	Study design	Risk of bias	Authors extracting data and assessing bias	Characteristics and number of participants	Setting	Contacts (n)	Timing of contacts	Length of follow-up observation	Collaboration with healthcare team
Nazareth et al 22	UK	RCT	Low	DM, PB	Patients discharged from elderly care wards Intervention=181 Control=181	Home visit by community pharmacist	1 or 2	7–14 days	3 and 6 months	Liaise with GPs
Holland et al 17	UK	RCT	Low	DM, JM	Age >80 on two or more medicines Intervention=429 Control=400	Home visit	2	14 and 60 days	6 months	Send report to GP
Ho et al 23	USA	RCT	Moderate	DM, MR	Admitted to one of 4 Veteran Affairs hospital with acute coronary syndrome Exclude if used non-Veteran Affairs pharmacy Intervention=122 Control=119	Primary care clinic	2	7–10 days—visit 30 days phone call	12 months	Send report to GP
Duggan et al 24	UK	RCT	Moderate	DM, GM	Age 16–79 recruited by ward pharmacist Intervention=237 Control=264	Community pharmacy	0	N/A	N/A	Not clear
Hawes et al 25	USA	RCT	Moderate	DM, AR	Year 1: long-term condition or more than 3 admissions, or 8 or more medication Year 2: 8 or more medications Intervention=24 Control=37	Primary care clinic	1	3 days	30 days	Seen prior to GP appointment
Shcherbakova and Tereso26	USA	Cohort	Moderate	DM, JM	Patients enrolled in health plan 180 days before admission Intervention=156 Control=89	Home visit	1	8 days	30 days	Contact GP to authorise changes
Kilcup et al 27	USA	Cohort	Moderate	DM, AR	Patients considered high risk for readmission Intervention=243 Control=251	Home visit	1	3–7 days	30 days	Send report to GP
Setter et al 28	USA	Cohort	Moderate	DM, GM	Age >50 transitioning from acute to home care with long-term condition Intervention=110 Control=110	Home visit	1	Not clear	60 days	Work with community nurses and send report to GP
Tedesco et al 30	USA	Cohort	Moderate	DM, JM	Age >65 Intervention=34 Control=43	Primary care clinic	1 or 2 phone calls and follow-up face-to-face review if needed	Phone call within 3 days, face-to-face 7–14 days	30 days	Discussed with GP
Polinski et al 31	USA	Cohort	High	DM, JM	Considered high or moderate risk of readmission Intervention=131 Control=131	By telephone or in patient home	Mean number contacts 5; details not fully reported	3 days	30 days	Contacted GP to arrange appointments and report medication changes and health concerns
Zeitouni et al 33	USA	Cohort	High	DM, GM	Identified as high risk of readmission Intervention=72 Control=24	Telephone	1	2 days	30 days	Arranged appointment with GP
Boockvar et al 29	USA	Pre/post intervention	Moderate	DM, GM	Nursing home residents Intervention=87 Control=81	Nursing home	1	1 day	60 days	Send report to GP who responds to each request
Gray et al 32	UK	Pre/post intervention	High	DM, MR	Discharged from elderly care wards Intervention=41 Control=45	GP practice	None	None	N/A	Email, send note or discuss with GP if needed
Vuong et al 34	Canada	QI project—pre/post intervention	High	DM, JM	Nursing home residents Intervention=monthly sample of 10 patients	Nursing home	1	2 days before nursing home admission	90 days	Three-way telephone call— pharmacist, nurse and GP

GP, general practitioner or primary care physician; N/A, not applicable; QI, quality improvement; RCT, randomised controlled trials.